Table 2.
Operative, admission, and postoperative details of women allocated tension-free vaginal tape procedure or colposuspension. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise
| Vaginal tape group (n=170)
|
Colposuspension group (n=146)
|
P value
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Median (interquartile range) theatre times (min): | |||
| Holding bay | 5 (5-10) | 5 (5-12) | 0.48* |
| Anaesthetic room | 15 (10-50) | 17 (14-25) | <0.001* |
| Operating theatre | 40 (30-48) | 50 (35-60) | <0.001* |
| Recovery area | 41 (31-60) | 85 (65-115) | <0.001* |
| Anaesthesia: | |||
| General | 3 (2)† | 145 (99) | |
| Spinal | 3 (2)‡ | 1 (1) | |
| Local and sedation | 164 (96) | Not applicable | |
| Median (interquartile range) blood loss (ml) | 50 (30-100) | 128 (74-200) | <0.001* |
| Opiate analgesia used in first 24 hours postoperatively | 35 (21) | 133 (91) | <0.001§ |
| Duration of catheterisation (suprapubic, urethral, or intermittent): | |||
| 1-7 days | 64 (38) | 146 (100) | |
| 8-28 days | 9 (5) | 48 (33) | <0.0001§ |
| 29 days to 6 months | 5 (3) | 19 (13) | <0.001§ |
| >6 months | 5 (3) | 11 (8) | 0.0746§ |
| Complications: | |||
| Bladder injury (perforation or evidence of trauma) | 15 (9) | 3 (2) | 0.013§ |
| Vaginal perforation | 5 (3) | 0 | 0.06§ |
| Wound infection | 4 (2) | 10 (7) | 0.06§ |
| Fever** | 1 (1) | 7 (5) | 0.027§ |
| Deep vein thrombosis | 0 | 3 (2) | 0.10§ |
| Incisional hernia | Not applicable | 3 (2) | |
| Retropubic haematoma | 3 (2) | 0 | 0.25§ |
| Vascular injury¶ | 1 (1) | 0 | 1.0§ |
| Tape erosion | 1 (1) | Not applicable | |
| Urinary tract infection (in six weeks after surgery) | 38 (22) | 46 (32) | 0.074§ |
| Total complications (excluding fever)** | 67 (39) | 65 (44.5) | 0.36§ |
| Median (interquartile range) postoperative hospital stay (days) | 1 (1-2) | 5 (5-7) | <0.001* |
| Median (interquartile range) time to return to normal activities (weeks) | 3 (2-4) | 6 (4-8) | <0.001* |
| Median (interquartile range) time to return to work (weeks) | 4 (3-7) | 10 (8-12) | <0.001* |
| Response to procedure: | |||
| Satisfied or very satisfied | 145 (85) | 119 (82) | |
| Dissatisfied | 7 (4) | 4 (3) | |
| Would recommend to relative or friend | 143 (84) | 119 (82) | |
*
Wilcoxon rank sum test.
†
General anaesthesia induced during procedure because of poor respiratory effort in one case, methaemoglobinaemia after injection of prilocaine in another, and for discomfort in third.
‡
Breached protocol.
§
Fisher's exact test.
¶
Abnormal obturator artery injured requiring laparotomy and blood transfusion (4 units).
**
Considerable overlap between postoperative fever and wound infection, hence fever excluded from totals.